William Christopher Handy Essay, Research Paper
William Christopher Handy
Handy was an American black composer and compiler of & # 8220 ; BLUES & # 8221 ; music. He
was born in Florence, Alabama. He was educated at the Negro Agricultural and
Mechanical College near Huntsville, Alabama. He was the boy of former slaves.
He was educated in the public schools and by his male parent and paternal gramps,
both of whom were reverends. Handy was the first to convey the African- American
blues to the general populaces attending with the publication of his MEMPHIS BLUES
in 1912. He began his musical calling as a horn soloist and bandmaster with
folk singer shows ; one of his earislst battles was with the World & # 8217 ; s Columbian
Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
Handy besides founded a music publication house and edited and wrote several
books, including the autobiographical Father of the Blues ( 1941 ) . Originally,
the blues were a type of black common people vocal small known beyond the southern United
States. Handy & # 8217 ; s vocals brought the blues to international attending.
Handy & # 8217 ; s calling was rooted in popular music. He began his calling in 1896 as
a folk singer show and vaudville corntist and bandleader and so became one of the
first publishing houses of music by black composers.
William Christopher Handy was born on Nov,16, 1873, in Florence, Ala,
folk singer show, but he shortly returned when his money ran out. He attended Teachers
Agreicultural & A ; Mechanical College in Huntsville, Alabama, and worked as a
school instructor and bandmaster. In 1893, during an economic depression, he formed
a four to execute at the World & # 8217 ; s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. For several
old ages subsequently he drifted around the state working at different occupations.
Finally he settled in Memphas, Tenn.
Although he lost his seeing at age 30, after WW1 he conducted his ain
orchestra from 1903 intill 1921. His seeing partly returned, but he became
wholly blind after a autumn from a metro platform in 1943.
Handy wrote music during the period of passage from ragtime to wind.
The music he had absorbed during his young person consisted of spirituals, work vocals,
and common people laies. His ain work consisted of elements of all these in add-on to
the popular ragtime and the blues notes that he inserted. His work developed the
construct of blues as a harmonic model within which it was possible to
improvise.
In 1918 he moved to New York City, where he continued to work as a
composer and music organizer for movie, wireless, and Broadway productions. Handy
died in New York City on March 28, 1958.
